For those of you that have read my prayer request post you know that my brother had a tragic accident this fall. He was on a four-wheeler and collided with a truck. He flew off the four-wheeler and fractured his sixth and seventh vertebrae. He could have  died or been paralyzed, instead he was spared. 

It took two surgeries to get his neck stabilized and the second surgery was worse than the first. He now has a g-tube for feeding because his throat is too swollen to eat. 

This is a difficult time for my brother to be disabled because he is a farmer and harvest time is approaching. 

My brother and sister-in-law live in a small town and the town is primarily Mennonite. I don’t know if it is because it is a small town or because the town is Mennonite but amazing things are happening.

My first cousin has told my sister-in-law that my brother does not need to worry about harvest. Men in the town have come forward to volunteer their time and skill to bring in the harvest. 

My sister-in-law has raved about my first cousin. He has been given authority to bring in the harvest but in the process has involved my brother in every decision about his farm. Thereby not taking control but assisting in the decisions.

I know this town will step up to help my brother and his wife. 

Living in a big city I have missed some of the small town benefits. This past July I fell and broke my collar-bone. My seventeen year old son was staying with me on summer visitation. 

I fell on the way to go meet him at a movie theater. 

I called him and told him that I had fallen and couldn’t move my right arm. He came running.

As he drove me back home for my insurance information I told him I thought it may be a dislocated shoulder because it didn’t hurt.  We discussed the options for care, either Care Now or the hospital. As I pulled down the visor and looked in the mirror I saw the jagged edges of my fractured collar-bone almost breaking through my skin. Care now was not an option, the decision was made to go to Baylor Grapevine Hospital. (I will write a post on this hospital soon. It is beyond excellent in my book.)

My son stayed with me in the ER and was so sweet. The orthopedic doctor who came in on a Saturday night and did surgery on Sunday morning was amazing. 

The timing of this accident was difficult. I had planned to fly my son to New York City on Monday for a senior trip and then we were to travel to Pennsylvania for my nephew’s wedding. 

I had a decision to make. Do I send my son alone or do I bite the bullet and go on the trip? I knew that my son would not enjoy the trip alone and I also knew that I could not survive without my son being by my side as my new right hand man.

That boy lugged both of our bags, shielded me from strangers bumping into me, helped me wash my hair and dry it and basically was my right hand for all of that trip. He was an angel.

Sometimes it takes a village to help a person and sometimes it takes just one amazing seventeen year old son who is a gift from God. 

 

 

 

Whether it is a village or one amazing son all good comes from God. In James 1:17 the Bible says, ” Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”